Rescuer instincts save Natick teen’s life

Austin Brennan has fallen countless times while wakeboarding without incident. The 19-year-old expected nothing different on May 30 when he went out on Lake Cochituate after work with his brother and some friends to practice some wakeboarding tricks on the family boat.

Austin Brennan has fallen countless times while wakeboarding without incident.

The 19-year-old expected nothing different on May 30 when he went out on Lake Cochituate after work with his brother and some friends to practice some wakeboarding tricks on the family boat.

“I was trying this one trick over and over, it was a 360. I’d fallen a bunch of times, and then it was basically my last round that I was going out there to give it one more shot.”

While making his final attempt, Brennan fell and hit his head on the wakeboard.

“I remember going up for the trick and coming around in the air, but after that I was just unconscious,” Brennan said.

The boat pulling Brennan turned around and found him floating unconscious in his life jacket with his head submerged. Brennan’s rescuers pulled him to the boat’s swim platform where he began to breathe again. A woman on shore called 911 when she heard cries for help as the boat rushed to shore.

Natick firefighters and EMS crews arrived in four minutes and assessed Brennan’s condition on a dock, making the crucial decision that his mother, Sandra, said saved his life.

“They took me to Beth Israel (Deaconess Medical Center), where I thought I was just going to get stitches,” Brennan said.

EMT and firefighter Rick Weitsen was one of the first responders.

“(Brennan) wasn’t very quick to respond to the questions we were asking, so we were concerned about that,” Weitsen said, who added that Brennan seemed disoriented and asked repetitive questions.

“He was talking to us, but something in you tells you that something’s just not right. So we made the decision to go to Beth Israel (Deaconess Medical Center in Boston), figuring that that was the best place for him,” Weitsen said.

The rescuers’ instincts were correct. Brennan suffered what is known as a “secondary drowning” about an hour after arriving at the hospital. Though uncommon, secondary drowning can occur after a person has taken contaminated water into his or her lungs, though the victim may initially appear to be OK afterward.

“It can happen at a moment’s notice,” Weitsen said.

After three days in the ICU and five days in the hospital, Brennan was released and advised to “take it slow” and avoid intensive exercise and reading.

“The EMTs from Natick heard from the scene what had happened,” Sandra Brennan said. “That is how they made the decision to do what they did, which was to take him to a place where if a secondary drowning occurred he would be where he needed to be.”

The Brennans visited the Natick Fire Department yesterday to thank them for their work after Austin had recovered.

Page 2 of 2 - “It’s very rewarding to actually see that the things you do can make a difference. It wasn’t just myself, it was everyone that put their lives on the line helping to save a life,” Weitsen said.